I tried N8 at a NOKIA shop today. On my request, the NOKIA salesman activated the front camera of N8 and took a picture of us together. The quality of picture was reasonable, low noise at least as seen on the screen of N8. I assume N8 and our N900 are both installed with the similar quality of front camera hardware. If N8 could take reasonable picutres with it, N900 should be capable of doing the same. What our N900 lacking is a good app. for this self-photography function. Hope someone can help! TC